The "Original" Bitless Bridle?
The earliest known development of the crossunder design of bitless bridle can be credited to Ike Grimsley, a bulldogger in the rodeo world. Ike came from Swink in Colorado and was nicknamed ‘Ink of Swink.’ The bridle was made and used by a small circle of bulldoggers (men who hired out teams of horses for rodeo work) in the early 1950s but was never marketed. It was developed in response to the need for bulldoggers like Leon Manchester of New Jersey to have a bridle that saved their horses mouths from being damaged by over-enthusiastic rodeo riders. By chance, Carole Iverson, President of BitlessBridle Inc, met Leon Manchester when she was looking to buy another Tennessee Walking Horse. By this time, Leon was 81 and had moved to Elkton, Maryland but he was still riding daily and still using the Grimsley bridle. The design was essentially the same as our present bridle, the only significant difference being the presence of a line of copper wire sewn on the inside of the noseband and crown piece. Dr. Cook met Leon subsequently and took these photographs in October 2005.
 
Interestingly, Grimsley’s bridle proceeded the Be Nice halter that was patented in 1980's. The success of this design, as a halter, was attributable to the crossunder principle.
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